Anyone can learn to paint, if they want to. There are painters who cannot use their hands to paint, so instead hold the brush in their mouth, like Mary Helene Abi Saab.

Similarly, anyone can learn to think more creatively, if they want. Like those who paint without using their hands, all it takes is a “I can try” attitude.

It’s not hard to look and find success stories of how approaching creativity as though it were an experiment, something we might try, leads to new ideas, insights, and even ways of living.

The medical physician who wants to spend his time writing fantasy novels instead of practicing medicine and decides to “try writing, just on the weekends” but then publishes a book a year later. Or the school teacher who would much rather spend her time creating innovative solutions for the poor and decides to “try joining a discussion forum, just to see what happens” only to end up being invited to speak and share her ideas at a global conference.

What sets these people apart from everyone else is not their innate abilities, or necessarily their intelligence. What matters is that they approach their creative endeavours with the menality of “what if I tried this…” as opposed to “I could never do that.”

If you want to be more creative, if you want to introduce new ideas and discoveries into your life, approach every new opportunity that comes your way as though it were an experiment to be tried.

Experiments cannot fail, they can only teach you what did and didn’t work.

When you try an experiment you leave the door open for failure, for shortcoming, for big mistakes. But it’s only by trying that you also open the door for success and for new insights.